HICKORY CORNERS, MI — Virtually every Mopar enthusiast has "their car" — a personal favorite model year they may have owned, currently own or adore from afar.

They can spot it's silhouette a mile away, they recite the specifications like prayer and they can detect restored or original parts in an instant.

"If you follow the psychology of a car nut, everybody has their car from their era," Grand Rapids resident Richard Kelley said as he sat behind his dream car, a red 1974 Dodge Challenger.

"So everybody, depending on their age group and probably where they were at between the ages of 12 and 18, has that period of car that they love. And within that period a particular make or model that they really love."

Kelley and hundreds of fellow Mopar fans cruised through the 26th annual Mopars at the Red Barns car show Saturday to show off beloved classic cars, buy or sell parts and appreciate the fondness other owners have for their revered models.

Since 1990, the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners has been home to the show, which is organized by Western Michigan Mopar Club.

Jack Beertema, the club's president and founder, said the show immediately outgrew its first home in Delton, and has continued to expand in scope and size ever since. Saturday's event featured 330 cars made by Chrysler, Plymouth or Dodge, 11 vehicles short of the show's record, Beertema said.

"(When) everyone thinks of cars, they think of Cameros and Mustangs," Beertema said. "I think maybe that's what brings a lot of us Mopar people together is we're different so to speak. We were always the third of the Big Three as far as production numbers and all that stuff. Some people think they're ugly – some of them, I guess, you could say maybe are — but to us they're all beautiful."

In more than two decades the show has become one of the most popular in the region. Beertema said many attendees and participants deem it a can't-miss destination in the summer, with some even planning their vacation around the one-day event in southwest Michigan.

There were first, second and third place prizes for cars in 28 different categories, Beertema said, as well as other awards for the best car from the 1964 production year, one for the Mopar club with the most participants and one for the owner that came the furthest distance. A few years ago, the latter award was taken home by a man who drove his Dodge Challenger from California, he said.

"As far as a Chrysler event, this is rapidly becoming not the best kept secret in the Midwest," Kelley said. "For the longest time it was not as big as it is, but it's gotten bigger every year and it's just as enjoyable."

The show's reputation inspired Robert and Marcia Boomstra to make the trip from Hudsonville, Michigan with their 1983 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue – which they believed to be the only one of its kind at the show.

Robert Boomstra, a longtime classic car fan, was looking to sell the car as he's getting too old to get underneath them anymore so he figured Saturday's show was a prime opportunity to meet up with potential buyers.

In his first time at the event, Boomstra was taken back by the range of vehicles on display.

"There's such a variety here — there's everything here," he said.

While everyone undoubtedly has their preferred model, Beertema said, the club encourages an environment where anyone from the Mopar community, owner or not, can come together and enjoy the cars they love.

"You don't have to have a (Plymouth) Hemi Barracuda or a (Plymouth) Road Runner," he said. "Any kind of Chrysler product that was built by or for the Chrylser Corporation that's your favorite car, you are more than welcome to bring it here."